“We are not trying to compete. We’re trying to solve a problem.”

So said Michele Howard, chief program officer for Hope Chicago, an education and economic empowerment nonprofit, at The Citizen’s 8th annual Ideas We Should Steal festival presented by Comcast NBCUniversal on November 14.

Howard’s message — of taking ideas that work, experimenting with new ones, and discarding what fails — reflected the ambitions and scope of the Festival, and its audience of around 400 civic problem solvers and do-gooders.

Howard was talking about education and economic mobility with the United Way’s Bill Golderer. But throughout the day more than 17 speakers took to the stage to share solutions for everything from potholes and women’s sports to housing and bringing back bipartisanship. Though the topics

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